Students living in halls of residence at the University of Bristol are pledging to go on a rent strike in protest at plans to put the rent for student accommodation up by more than the rate of inflation for the second year running.

An organisation called Bristol, Cut The Rent, set up by students to lobby for better and more affordable housing for students in the city, is organising the strike.

Students are signing up to pledge not to pay the next instalment of rent, due for the summer term on April 24, and have sent the university’s vice-chancellor a list of demands to end the strike.

Most students in halls and other university-owned accommodation pay their rent termly. Protest organisers said the rent went up by 4.5 per cent last summer for this academic year, and they have heard that the university is planning another rise of 3.5 per cent for 2017-18.

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“These rent hikes are consistent with a pattern of huge increases for several years, considerably above the rate of inflation,” said a spokesman for Bristol, Cut the Rent.

“Representatives from Bristol, Cut the Rent and Bristol Student Union have met with university senior management and expressed our discontent with the astronomical rent levels; it seems as if senior management do not care as they have showed no willingness to rethink their plans,” she added.

The list of demands made by the campaigners to the university include university bosses releasing ‘detailed accounts’ of the balance sheets from accommodation, to ‘make clear to students where their money goes’.

“All future housing contracts with private sector providers such as UNITE must be subject to full student consultation as we believe people must always come before profit,” a spokesman said.

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Other demands include a cut in rents back to the levels of last year, before last autumn’s rise and without this summer’s proposed rise.

The students are also demanding the university ‘urgently and radically re-examines its rent-setting policies to ensure students in university accommodation from 2018-19 have access to genuinely affordable rents.

“The university’s current definition of affordability is woefully inadequate and serves as a major barrier to equal access to education,” she added.

Bristol University director of residential and hospitality services Simon Bray said: "The university does not make a profit from residential accommodation and simply seeks to cover its costs.

"The price of accommodation is similar to that charged by universities in the other cities in the south of England and is competitive against private rented accommodation in Bristol.

"We recognise that accommodation is a significant cost for students, and this year we have worked with the students' union with the aim of establishing rent setting principles.

"Every year, we make a number of rooms available at lower rents and we agree the cost of those with our Students' Union. We have also recently agreed a residential bursary scheme for students joining us from households with a low income.

"We will continue to work with student representatives on this issue."